Quote:
Originally Posted by pspeid
Just drove # 1 back and forth Regina to Winnipeg. While there are some very good patches and some rougher patches, the worst have to be passing through Brandon, the roads/ramps west of Portage and in Headingly. I saw work was being done at Portage, but why do the "urban" strips of the trans-Canada end up in such disrepair? Is it a jurisdictional thing, where towns/cities say it's up to the province, and the province says it's up to the towns/cities?
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I was thinking of your post when I drove to and from Saskatoon on the weekend. The TCH through the urban areas is utterly wretched. I don't get it. The Brandon segment in particular is just an absolute horror. How did it get so bad? You go a few kms to the east or west and it's fine, but the section of highway through Brandon is a disaster.
Portage is also a shitshow, the segments around the east/west interchanges are just brutal with comically narrow lanes, rough pavement and just bad overall geometry. It's still 1960s standards all around over there.
The TCH through Headingley is awful and I don't understand how this was ever allowed in the first place. The highway entrances into Regina and Saskatoon look like you're entering Toronto by comparison, while the TCH into Winnipeg makes it look like you're entering a rural town like Altona. Even apart from the transportation considerations, the image it presents is horrendous.
The rest of the TCH is fine apart from the lack of grade separations.
I am not a regular long haul driver but I did notice an incredible amount of semi-trailer traffic. I got to Winnipeg around 11 pm and pretty well that entire stretch from Portage to Winnipeg I noticed an endless stream of semis heading west. By contrast, I didn't notice a single train from Regina to Winnipeg (did they take the day off for the long weekend, or what?!). Is there just a general tendency among transportation companies to have drivers leave Winnipeg around 10 pm for an overnight drive to Calgary?